Changes
by SydneyPN4
Summary: Ciel has had enough of Sebastian's attitude - or, lack thereof. He decides to confront him one day, and things do not go as planned. Will his relationship with his butler be ruined forever, or will they be able to get past the change? Set after season 2 of the anime!


**Hello! This is the first Kuroshitsuji fanfiction I have ever put on here. This was meant to be something completely different than it turned out, but, what are you gonna do? I can't control the way my writer brain works anymore than you can.**

**This one-shot takes place after season 2 of the anime. There are a few spoilers for the second season, but not many. However, I would not recommend this to anyone that has NOT watched the second season of the anime.**

**Disclaimer: Obviously Kuroshitsuji does not belong to me. It all belongs to the wonderful Yana Toboso. I merely have beautiful ideas of Ciel and Sebastian having a perfect life together after the second season... That's all. I'm just a teenage girl trying to make it through high school.**

******DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW******

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It had taken Ciel nearly a year to finally decide that he was finished with his butler acting like such an idiot all the time. He was tired of seeing that blank, emotionless look on Sebastian's face every time he was spoken to. The petty games, sarcastic comments, and amused smirks that had always made his butler who he was were no longer there.

Sebastian was like an impassive doll; absolutely nothing Ciel did would affect his butler in even the slightest way. He could throw ridiculous orders at him, and, still, Sebastian would follow them without even the smallest raise of an eyebrow. Ciel had tried doing everything he could to get his butler to react; he even tried throwing a fit because they had run out of sweets for him to eat. Sebastian had merely sighed and said: "Do stop acting like a child, Young Master."

Having Sebastian act this way was unnerving Ciel. It was making him anxious and annoyed. He knew that he could simply order Sebastian to stop acting like such an idiot, but, somehow, Ciel thought that would only make the situation worse – it would still only be Sebastian acting like he cared.

It was one day in the middle of July that Ciel finally decided he'd had enough of his foolish demon. It was his first summer as a demon – it was probably meant to be special. How was it supposed to be special when his only companion wasn't even pretending to be himself?

They were sitting beside a lake in the woods by the manor. Ciel often came here during his first few months as a demon to see what had happened to the place. Nothing had, of course. He knew he could go inside and see what they had done with all of his things, but Ciel couldn't bring himself to do it. Regardless of how he had acted when he left, Ciel still cared for the manor and the people that used to call it home.

Ciel was casually sitting beside the lake, not touching the water. He found no joy in swimming, everyone knew that. Sebastian was standing behind him, awaiting his next orders – always the perfect butler. "I think I would like to get in," Ciel stated, breaking the silence that had not been interrupted for minutes.

"Would you like to swim in your clothes, or would you prefer I remove them for you?" Sebastian offered, voice dry of emotion.

All of the self-control Ciel had been holding in the past months disappeared in that moment. It left just as fast as his soul had. Ciel did not start screaming incoherently at his butler – it wouldn't be like him to do so. Instead, he calmly, but sternly, told Sebastian to sit in front of him. "It would not be appropriate for someone of my social standing to sit so carelessly before his master," Sebastian had replied, not moving from his place behind Ciel.

Ciel grew even more frustrated at his butler's refusal. But, still, he kept his cool demeanor. "It's an order, Sebastian," Ciel said through clenched teeth.

Sebastian sighed for what felt like the millionth time to Ciel since he lost his soul. "Very well, Young Master," Sebastian replied, slowly making his way to sit before Ciel.

Ciel did not look at his butler as he sat in front of him. Instead, he continued staring into the lake, pretending not to see Sebastian's reflection in the water. It was quiet for another minute before Sebastian spoke again, "Boochan, if I may –"

"No, Sebastian, you may not," Ciel interrupted, voice still void of emotion. He finally looked at his butler, noting the blank expression on his face. Of course, he probably wasn't surprised that Ciel had not allowed him to speak, but that wouldn't have stopped the Sebastian he knew from commenting on it. Instead, Sebastian said nothing; he continued to stare at his master blankly, without argument – forever the perfect butler.

Well, Ciel didn't want a perfect butler anymore.

"When are you planning on stopping this ridiculous game of yours?" Ciel asked with irritation evident in his voice.

Sebastian blinked at him, not willing to reply for a moment. "What game are you referring to, master?"

It took every ounce of willpower Ciel had to not attack his demon right there. "Don't act ignorant, Sebastian. You know exactly what I am referring to."

Once again, Sebastian took his time to answer the remark. It felt to Ciel like he was trying to push him over the edge with all of this pointless waiting; he wanted to see his master scream. "I'm afraid I do not, master. Would you be so kind as to tell me?"

Ciel abruptly stood from his spot on the ground. He couldn't handle it anymore. Ironically, the only word Ciel could think of to describe the way his demon butler was acting was "possessed." Sebastian didn't even react to his enraged face. It was as if, in Sebastian's mind, everything was perfectly normal.

"Stop acting like you don't care! I'm not asking you to care about me, Sebastian; I'm just asking you stop acting like everything is fine, because it isn't! Get angry at me! Scream at me until your voice disappears for a whole day! Throw me up against a wall and attempt to kill me again! I can fight back now, so stop treating me like I'm the same weak human I used to be! I wasn't aware that something as simple as my soul meant so much to you! It was just one soul, Sebastian! You can eat other souls, for all I care! I'm not stopping you! There – "

Ciel stopped shouting at his butler when he saw his mouth move. To anyone else, this would be something so simple and unimportant. But, to Ciel, this was very important, indeed. Sebastian was interrupting him.

Sebastian hadn't moved from his spot on the ground during Ciel's loss of restraint. If not for the flaming with rage boy standing ten feet away from him, the situation would have looked perfectly ordinary to any human. "What do you mean I can 'eat other souls'?" Sebastian asked.

Confusion was the first thing Ciel felt, quickly followed by more anger. His next words came out as a mixture of the two emotions. "Out of everything I just said…" Ciel mused. "That's… all you took from it?"

"Please, master, tell me what you meant by allowing me to eat other souls," Sebastian replied, sounding desperate.

Ciel was shocked. That was some of the most emotion Sebastian had allowed him to see in a long, long time. It was difficult for him to process. One minute, this cold, detached demon is sitting in front of him; the next, there is an anxious, almost excited, demon before him. "I meant exactly what I said, Sebastian. I'm not going to starve you. If you're hungry, go eat something, I don't really care."

His demon, too, looked surprised. Sebastian opened his mouth to reply, but no words would come out. "Sebastian…" Ciel began, "Did you think I would never allow you to eat again?"

"Of course not, my lord," Sebastian answered, awkwardly bowing his head from his place on the ground. It wasn't as if he could get up if he wanted to – his master had ordered him to sit there.

Ciel had no idea where he was supposed to continue from here. He had expected a large argument. In fact, he had even wanted a fight! At least that way he could release some of his pent up frustration! But, now, he had an emotionally wrecked demon on his hands. How was he meant to work with that? Comforting others had never been one of Ciel's talents, especially not with Sebastian – someone who never needed comforting. But... maybe that was exactly what his butler needed. Perhaps he was just as unsure about where he stood as Ciel was. Maybe a nice talk was all they needed…

The only problem was Ciel had no idea how to begin a talk like that. What does someone even say to an emotionally unstable demon?

"Sebastian," Ciel said, his voice sounding commanding. His demon looked up at him immediately, not wanting to miss an order from his master. "You need to stop."

"Is that an order, my lord?" Sebastian asked, his voice back to the emotionless tone.

Ciel glared at his butler, even knowing that it would raise no reaction from him. "No, it is not an order!" Ciel yelled, irritation building up inside him as he did. "I'm not going to order you to change, Sebastian! You should just stop acting like such an idiot over something neither of us can control! What's the point in carrying on the rest of our lives this way?! With you constantly being this pile of emotionless depression, and me always being angry at you! I don't want to continue living this way!"

Sebastian continued sitting on the ground, but Ciel could see the anger forming in his eyes. "There is nothing left to live for, Young Master. I was the perfect butler until the very end. That was all I wanted to do for you. I don't know what you wish for me to stop. Stop living? Master, that happened the moment you became a demon."

Ciel's eyes flashed in rage. "How dare you! You know that I wanted you to have my soul! I did not choose this fate for you, Sebastian, so stop punishing me for something out of my control! Maybe you should stop acting like such a child, and help me figure out how we can live this life without murdering each other!"

A small, quiet chuckle left Sebastian's mouth before he retaliated. "Young Master, you know better than anyone that I am in no position to do such a thing. I am bound to you for all eternity. How you wish to use that power is your decision alone."

Answering was no longer something Ciel thought he had the ability to do. Here he was, practically begging Sebastian to help him, and, yet, he still continued to play ignorance. So, instead of replying to his idiotic butler, Ciel jumped into the lake. He knew it would surprise even Sebastian – it always did. Because Ciel was now a demon, he couldn't drown from being at the bottom of the lake. However, he still did not know how to swim. Unless Sebastian planned on sitting in the woods forever, he would eventually have to save him.

The rescue happened much faster than Ciel thought it would. He hadn't even reached the bottom of the lake when he saw Sebastian coming toward him. His face was expressionless as he immediately identified his master, slowly floating to the bottom of the lake. Sebastian grabbed Ciel's arm and carefully swam to the surface, much faster than humanly possible.

They resurfaced and easily stayed afloat in the water, Sebastian protectively holding onto Ciel. Neither said anything for a long time. They simply continued staring into each other's eyes; Ciel's right still covered with the eye patch out of habit and occasional appearances in public. "I wish I understood why you're so angry at me," Ciel finally admitted.

"I could never be angry with you, Young Master," Sebastian replied.

"That's a lie."

"I have told you many times, I do not lie."

"You lie to yourself."

Sebastian chuckled and smiled softly at his master before swimming them back to land. He carried Ciel to a spot in sunlight so that his clothes could dry. Sebastian walked back to his previous spot on the ground and sat again, patiently waiting for his master to speak.

"Things are different now," Ciel stated. He felt like it needed to be said. They both knew it very well, but neither had spoken the four words aloud. Perhaps that was the first step: acceptance.

"Indeed they are," Sebastian replied, emotion coming back into his voice. Apparently, Ciel was right that they both needed to release their anger.

Ciel looked at his butler; Sebastian was staring at the green grass as if it held all the answers to the world. "Do you want things back to the way they used to be?" Ciel asked, trying to force Sebastian into participating in the conversation.

Sebastian did not answer immediately, but it was different than the last conversation they had. This time, Sebastian was actually thinking over his answer instead of trying to anger his master. "I think that is impossible, Young Master."

Ciel nodded in agreement. It was true; life would never be the same for anyone ever again. But, that wasn't what Ciel had meant. "What about for us?" he asked instead.

"For us?"

"Yes. Do you want things to be the same between us?"

"I do not think it is appropriate for me to answer that question, my lord," Sebastian replied.

Ciel should have seen this coming. Of course Sebastian would still refuse to take part in the conversation as an equal. Didn't the idiot know that was what Ciel wanted?! He no longer wished to just have a butler as his only companion. He wanted Sebastian… The Sebastian he knew before that brat, Alois, came and ruined everything.

"May I ask you a question, master?" It was the first question Sebastian had asked himself since they started talking. Ciel nodded his head in confirmation. "What do you want from this?"

"Excuse me?" Ciel asked, confused by his demon's ridiculous question.

"What do you expect to gain from this conversation? An understanding? Friendship? A fight? Why have this discussion at all? Personally, I do not see what was so wrong with the way things were going before now, Young Master. I acted as your butler. That is the role I was told to play, was it not?"

Ciel stared at his butler expressionlessly for a long while. Of all the questions Sebastian would ask him, he had never expected that to be one of them. To be honest, Ciel was not sure what he wanted to gain from the conversation. He didn't want his butler back, per se. Ciel merely wanted _Sebastian _back. And, he was fairly certain, in order to do that, he would have to act like himself, too.

Ciel was beginning to figure out what was happening here. Replaying the time in the woods inside his head, Ciel came to one conclusion: Sebastian was acting different because he was.

When Ciel had told Sebastian that he could eat any souls he wished to, Sebastian had acted relived. It was like Sebastian had thought Ciel would not allow him to feast. Then, when Ciel had yelled at him for the second time, Sebastian retaliated; he did what his old self would have done. Next, when Ciel jumped into the lake, Sebastian immediately saved him. When they resurfaced, Sebastian had started acting a little more like he used to.

It was the only answer to his problems. Sebastian was acting different because he thought Ciel was changed. He thought that Ciel would no longer be the person he was in the past because of his missing soul. Of course, the person Ciel used to be was by no means the nicest. But, Ciel was willing to change that to have Sebastian back to the way he used to be.

So, Ciel decided to begin acting like himself again. To get over this "being a demon forever" thing, and just be who he was.

That is why he answered, "I want you to stop acting like an idiot and take me home."

Not waiting for a reply, Ciel got up from his spot on the ground and began walking out of the woods. If he wasn't a demon, Ciel would not have been able to hear Sebastian answer, "Yes, Young Master." And he would not have been able to see him smile that beautiful smile the entire time he walked to the end of the woods, where Ciel was waiting for him.

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**Please don't forget to review. Even if you hated it, please review anyway. Reviews of any kind are perfect. I'll take anything... Please.**


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